em back to Red River for the winter of 1815-1816. Feeling sure that he
had destroyed Selkirk's scheme root and branch, Cameron has remained at
Fort Gibraltar with only a few men, when back to the field comes
Robertson, stormy, capable, robust, red-blooded, fearless, breathing
vengeance on Selkirk's foes.

[Illustration: SKETCH OF THE CITY OF WINNIPEG, SHOWING THE SITES OF THE
EARLY FORTS]

By the spring of 1816 the tables have been turned with a vengeance.
Cameron, the Nor'wester, has been seized and sent to Hudson Bay to be
expelled from the country. Fort Gibraltar has been pulled down and the
timbers used to strengthen Fort Douglas, whose pointed cannon command all
passage up and down Red River. It was hardly to be supposed that the
haughty Nor'westers would submit to expulsion without a blow. From
Athabasca, from New Caledonia, from Qu'Appelle . . . they rally their
doughtiest fighters under Cuthbert Grant, the {392} half-breed Plain
Ranger. From Montreal and Fort William come spurring the leading
partners, with one hundred and seventy French-Canadian bullies, and a
brass cannon concealed under oilcloth in a long boat. The object of the
Plain Rangers is to meet the up-coming partners with supplies for the
year; but is that any reason for the riders who are striking eastward
from Assiniboine to Red River, decking themselves out in war paint and
stripping like savages before battle? The object of the partners is to
meet the Plain Rangers on Red River; but is that any reason for bringing
a cannon concealed under oilcloth all the way from Lake Superior? Or do
men fighting a life-and-death struggle for the thing the world calls
success ever acknowledge plain motives within themselves at all? Is it
not rather the blind brute instinct of self-protection, forfend what may?

[Illustration: RED RIVER SETTLEMENT, 1816-1820]

"Listen, white men! Beware! Beware!" the Cree chief Peguis warns
Governor Semple. What means the spectacle of white brothers, who preach
peace, preparing for war over a few beaver pelts? Chief Peguis cannot
understand, except this is the way of white men.

{393} And now, unluckily for Governor Semple, he quarrels with his
adviser, Colin Robertson. Robertson, from his early training in
Northwest ranks, reads the signs, and is for striking a blow before the
enemy can strike him. Semple is still talking peace. Robertson leaves
Red River in disgust, and departs for Hudson Bay to take ship fo